A rare variation of the axillary artery combined contralaterally with an unusual high origin of a superficial ulnar artery: description, review of the literature and embryological analysis.

During anatomical dissection of a female Caucasian cadaver in our department we observed a combination of two rare arterial patterns of the upper limb bilaterally; a superficial ulnar artery of high origin in the right upper limb and some rare variations of the left axillary artery: Right arm: The superficial ulnar artery originated from the second part of the axillary artery, before the origin of the subscapular artery. It proceeded superficially in the forearm. The axillary artery continued normally in the arm as brachial artery, and finally divided into the radial and the common interosseous artery. The normal ulnar artery was absent. The presence of the superficial ulnar artery is a rare variation given that its total incidence ranges from 0.67% to 9.38%, with only 0.17% to 2% originating from the axillary artery. Left arm: The second part of the axillary artery gave rise to a first common trunk (named A), lying between the two roots of the median nerve, which divided in two new common trunks (B and C). One of these gave origin to the subscapular and the posterior circumflex humeral artery while the other gave rise to the anterior circumflex humeral artery, two muscle twigs and then continued as profunda brachii artery. The incidence of anatomic variations of the major arteries of the upper extremities ranges from 11% to 24%. Nevertheless a pattern with three common trunks comprising the origin of the profunda brachii has not yet been cited in the literature.